70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Environment, Enhanced
Chapter 3:Creating and Managing
User Accounts
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 2
Objectives
• Understand the purpose of user accounts• Understand the user authentication process• Understand and configure local, roaming, and
mandatory user profiles• Configure and modify user accounts using
different methods• Troubleshoot user account and authentication
problems
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 3
Introduction to User Accounts
• A user account is an Active Directory object• Represents information that defines a user with
access to network (first name, last name, password, etc.)
• Required for anyone using resources on network• Assists in administration and security• Must follow organizational standards
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 4
User Account Properties
• Primary tool for creating and managing accounts is Active Directory Users and Computers
• Active Directory is extensible so additional tabs may be added to property pages
• Major account properties that can be set include:• General• Address• Account• Profile • Sessions
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 5
The Account Tab of Properties
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 6
User Authentication• The process by which a user’s identity is validated• Used to grant or deny access to network resources• From a client operating system
• Name, password, resource required
• In Active Directory environment• Domain controller authenticates
• In a workgroup• Local SAM database authenticates
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 7
Authentication Methods
• Two main processes• Interactive authentication
• User account information is supplied at log on
• Network authentication
• User’s credentials are confirmed for network access
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 8
Interactive Authentication
• The process by which a user provides a user name and password for authentication
• For domain logon, credentials compared to centralized Active Directory database
• For local logon, credentials compared to local SAM database
• In domain environments, users normally don’t have local accounts
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 9
Network Authentication
• The process by which a network service confirms the identify of a user
• For a user who logs on to domain, network authentication is transparent• Credentials from interactive authentication valid for
network resources
• A user who logs on to local computer will be prompted to log on to network resource separately
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 10
Authentication Protocols
• Windows Server 2003 supports two main authentication protocols:• Kerberos version 5 (Kerberos v5)• NT LAN Manager (NTLM)
• Kerberos v5 is primary protocol for Active Directory environments but is not supported on all client systems
• NTLM is primary protocol for older Microsoft operating systems
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 11
Kerberos v5• Primary authentication protocol used in Active
Directory domain environments• Supported by Windows 2000, Windows XP,
Windows Server 2003• Protocol followed:
• Log on request passed to Key Distribution Center (KDC), a Windows Server 2003 domain controller
• KDC authenticates user and, if valid, issues a ticket-granting ticket (TGT) to client system
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 12
Kerberos v5 (continued)
• When client requests a network resource, it presents the TGT to KDC
• KDC issues a service ticket to client
• Client presents service ticket to host server for network resource
• Every domain controller in Active Directory environment holds role of KDC
• Not all clients follow this protocol
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 13
NTLM
• A challenge-response protocol• Used with operating systems running Windows
NT 4.0 or earlier or with Windows 2000 or Server 2003 when necessary
• Protocol followed:• User logs in, client calculates cryptographic hash of
password
• Client sends user name to domain controller
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 14
NTLM (continued)
• Domain controller generates random challenge and sends it to client
• Client encrypts challenge with hash of password and sends to domain controller
• Domain controller calculates expected value to be returned from client and compares to actual value
• After successful authentication, domain controller generates a token for user for network access
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 15
User Profiles
• A collection of settings specific to a particular user• Stored locally by default
• Do not follow user logging on to different computers
• Can create a roaming profile• Does follow user logging on to different computers
• Administrator can create a mandatory profile• User cannot alter it
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 16
User Profile Folders and Contents
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 17
Local Profiles
• New profiles are created from Default User profile folder
• User can change local profile and changes are stored uniquely to that user
• Administrator can manage various elements of profile• Change Type• Delete • Copy To
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 18
Roaming Profiles
• Roaming profiles • Allow a profile to be stored on a central server and
follow the user
• Provide advantage of a single centralized location (helpful for backup)
• Configured from Profiles page of Active Directory Users and Computers
• Changing a profile from local to roaming requires care – should copy first
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 19
Mandatory Profiles
• Local and roaming profiles allow users to make permanent changes
• Mandatory profiles allow changes only for a single session
• Local and roaming profiles can both be configured as mandatory• ntuser.dat ntuser.man
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 20
Creating and Managing User Accounts
• Standard tool is Active Directory Users and Computers
• Also a number of command line tools and utilities
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 21
Active Directory Users and Computers
• Available from Administrative Tools menu• Can be added to a Microsoft Management Console• Can be run from command line (dsa.msc)• Graphical tool
• Can add, modify, move, delete, search for user accounts
• Can configure multiple objects simultaneously
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 22
User Account Templates
• A user account that is pre-configured with common settings
• Can be copied to create new user accounts with pre-defined settings
• New account is then configured with detailed individual settings
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 23
Command Line Utilities
• Some administrators prefer working from command line
• Can be used to automate creation or management of accounts more flexibly
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 24
DSADD
• Allows object types to be added to directory• Computer accounts, contacts, quotas, OUs, users, etc.
• Syntax for user account is • DSADD USER distinguished-name switches
• Switches include• -pwd (password), -memberof, -email, -profile, -disabled
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 25
DSMOD
• Allows object types to be modified from the command line• Computer accounts, users, quotas, OUs, servers, etc.
• Syntax for modifying user account is • DSMOD USER distinguished-name+ switches+
• Can modify multiple accounts simultaneously
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 26
DSQUERY
• Allows various object types to be queried from command line
• Supports wildcard (*)• Output can be redirected to another command
(piped)• Example: return all user accounts that have not
changed passwords in 14 days• dsquery user domainroot –name * -stalepwd 14
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 27
DSMOVE• Allows various object types to be moved from
current location to a new location• Allows various object types to be renamed• Only moves within the same domain (otherwise
use MOVETREE)• Example: to move a user account into a marketing
OU• dsmove "cn=Paul Kohut,cn=users,dc=domain01,
dc=dovercorp,dc=net" –newparent "ou=marketing, dc=domain01,dc=dovercorp,dc=net"
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 28
DSRM
• Allows objects to be deleted from directory• Can delete single object or entire subtree• Has a confirm option that can be overridden• Example: to delete the Marketing OU and all its
contained objects without a confirm prompt:• dsrm –subtree –noprompt –c "ou=marketing,
dc=domain01,dc=dovercorp,dc=net "
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 29
Bulk Import and Export
• Allows an organization to import existing stores of data rather than recreating from scratch
• Allows an organization to export data that is already structured in Active Directory to secondary databases
• Two command line utilities for import and export• CSVDE
• LDIFDE
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 30
CSVDE
• Command-line tool to bulk export and import Active Directory data to and from comma-separated value (CSV) files
• CSV files can be created/edited using text-based editors
• Example:• csvde –f output.csv
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 31
LDIFDE
• Command-line tool to bulk export and import Active Directory data to and from LDIF files• LDAP Interchange Format• Industry standard for information in LDAP directories• Each attribute/value on a separate line with blank lines
between objects
• Can be read in text-based editors• Common uses: extending AD schemas, importing
bulk data to populate AD, manipulating user and group objects
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 32
Troubleshooting User Account and Authentication Issues
• Normally creating and configuring user accounts is straightforward
• Issues do arise related to• Configuration of account
• Policy settings
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 33
Account Policies
• Authentication-related policy settings• Configured in Account Policies node of Group Policy
objects at domain level
• Account lockout, passwords, Kerberos
• Default Domain Policy• Accessed from Active Directory Computers and Users
• Configures policies for all domain users
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 34
Password Policy
• Configuration settings• Password history and reuse
• Maximum password age
• Minimum password age
• Minimum password length
• Complexity requirements
• Encryption policy
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 35
Account Lockout Settings
• Configuration settings• Account lockout duration
• Account lockout threshold
• Reset account lockout counter after
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 36
Kerberos Policy
• Configuration settings• Enforce user logon restrictions
• Maximum lifetime for service ticket
• Maximum lifetime for user ticket
• Maximum lifetime for user ticket renewal
• Maximum tolerance for computer clock synchronization
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 37
Auditing Authentication
• Audit account logon event• Configured in Group Policy object linked to Domain
Controllers OU (Default Domain Controllers Policy)
• Default is to log only successful logons• Event viewable in Security log (use Event Viewer)• Can choose to edit failed logons
• May be helpful for troubleshooting
• Codes provide information about type of failure
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 38
Resolving Logon Issues
• Some common logon issues (and fixes)• Incorrect user name or password (administrative reset)
• Account lockout (manual unlock)
• Account disabled (administrative enable)
• Logon hour restrictions (check account restrictions)
• Workstation restrictions (check account restrictions)
• Domain controllers (check configured DNS settings)
• Client time settings (check client clock synchronization)
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 39
Resolving Logon Issues (continued)
• Down-level client issues (install Active Directory Client Extensions)
• UPN logon issues (check Global Catalog server)• Unable to log on locally (set policy on local
server)• Remote access logon issues (check access on Dial-
up properties)• Terminal services logon issues (check allow logon
to terminal server permission)
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 40
Summary
• A user account is an object stored in Active Directory• Information that defines user and access to network
• Primary tools to create and manage user accounts• Active Directory Users and Computers
• Command line utilities (DSADD, DSMOD, DSQUERY, DSMOVE, DSRM)
• Two main authentication processes• Interactive authentication
• Network authentication
Guide to MCSE 70-290, Enhanced 41
Summary (continued)
• Two main authentication protocols• Kerberos v5, NTLM
• User profiles used to configure and customize desktop environment• Local, roaming, mandatory
• Utilities for bulk importing and exporting user data to and from Active Directory• LDIFDE and CSVDE